During the Great Depression, many people invested their hope in the newly coined “American Dream.” To them, the term expressed a feeling that has existed in America since its first sunrise; people have the right to control their own destiny. It meant that they would have the ability to provide for their family and afford some luxuries that made the Great Depression much less difficult. Today, however, the American Dream has been affected by modern capitalism and is becoming something different, and its effects are felt in our country, and elsewhere as well.
	Before digging deep into the meaning of the words “American Dream,” let’s look at some of the modern attitudes of major corporations and companies. Many large businesses are amassing a considerable wealth, but at what cost?
	Hard work is doing very little for the farmers of modern America. Farmers were the quintessential living American Dreamers, but now they are being manipulated out of business by large corporate farms. As seen in the film The Global Banquet: The Politics of Food, government subsidies are no longer helping small family farmers; they are actually advantageous to the large corporate farms that have many acres to capitalize on. Today family farmers are working harder than previously just to have enough product and money to break even. Ultimately, due to debts incurred by running the farm, they cannot even sell their businesses to others. ConAgra and Monsanto are two of the corporate farms that are exploiting these subsidies.
	The business practices of Wal-Mart also come to mind especially with regards to the word “responsibility.” It seems that they intentionally exploit government welfare programs by paying their employees a small hourly wage and not providing adequate and affordable health care. Generations of American Dreamers have worked at Wal-Mart now, and a resounding complaint is the company’s current policy of overlooking their needs. A fair percentage of Wal-Mart employees use federal and state welfare to provide health care for themselves and their families.
It seems that Wal-Mart intentionally disregards the Clean Water Act. They placed fertilizer and other chemical material over drainpipes at many of their locations. When this was initially brought to their attention, they didn’t seem to have an executive position to govern such policies. After months, their only reaction was to ignore the allegations. Finally, Wal-Mart did act, but it was only after a store manager saw a story on the evening news about their blatant violations. Through practices like these Wal-Mart has enabled itself to become one of the richest and most powerful companies in the world.
